Citizens' initiative bill dead
I am really pissed off about this! Look at the reponse from this airbag Rep. Busky! Talk about someone that needs to be kicked out of his ivory tower!!!!!! Help me out here with a response! I am seeing red and can't think!
Published March 20. 2006 6:01AM
Citizens' initiative bill dead
Measure to let citizens propose laws unwanted
Members of the state House of Representatives ultimately gave citizens a message last week when they bad-mouthed a proposed citizens' initiative bill extensively enough that its sponsor pulled the plug on it.
What the lawmakers said - some not too subtly - was this: Leave the lawmaking to us.
That is where the power to pass laws lies now. Only members of the House and Senate can introduce legislation in their respective chambers, which they will vote on and pass on to the governor.
In some states, however, there is a process by which citizens can propose a bill or a constitutional amendment which voters then would consider on a statewide ballot.
When there is news of a "proposition" whatever from California, it is legislation proposed through this process. Following news of some of the propositions considered in California through the years, one can understand why the value of a citizens' initiative-type law is debatable.
When the bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Ball, R-Huntsville, came up for discussion in the House, he heard about an hour of opposition from fellow lawmakers, then pulled the bill from consideration.
One representative said Alabama has a representative republic, not a direct democracy, meaning the people elect the lawmakers rather than passing the laws themselves.
Rep. James Buskey, D-Mobile, gave a more blunt appraisal, saying if people want to pass laws, they should run for the Legislature - a rather dismissive attitude from someone who depends on those citizens he seems to disdain to send him to the Legislature.
And as most people know, lawmakers do not pass laws in a vacuum. They often fall under the influence of lobbyists and other groups who draft legislation and depend on lawmakers to pass legislation they support and kill legislation they don't want to become law.
Ball said he believes his bill would have failed because of those lobbying groups, which don't want citizens to have the ability to petition for a bill that could be put on a ballot without them having a chance to kill it in the Legislature.
He said he will keep trying, but his bill will not pass until the public demands it.
The question Alabama's citizens have to ask themselves is whether they not only want the initiative to petition for and vote on laws for themselves, but whether they want every other citizen in the state to have that same initiative.
